Tehran: Synopsis of Turmoil

Significant events can be tied to the kindling of what is now a conflagration of turmoil in Tehran, Iran. Looking back into recent news, youtube videos, and reports from those in Tehran since the election day, Friday June 12, there are obvious swatches of information acting as fuel for a growing fire.

The buildup to the Iranian elections of 2005 were nothing close to that of the recent elections which included twitter, facebook, and most importantly televised debates that allowed citizens of Iran to become more involved in each candidate's opinions and views. The competing sides of the election looked something like this: President Mahmoud AhmadinejadMahmoud Ahmadinejad backed by Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, Ayatollah Ali KhameneiAyatollah Ali Khamenei, The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and the Basij militias who are supervised by the IRGC; all pitted against Mohsen Rezaei (a conservative opposition to Ahmadinejad),Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi RafsanjaniAkbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ayatollahs Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani, Mohammad Mousavi Khoiniha and Abdolkarim Mousavi Ardabili, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Former President Mohammed Khatami (who supports Mousavi), Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, and Mehdi Karroubi (who now backs Mousavi). With the insurgence of technology as a new form of education concerning all sides of the election, as well as the decision on behalf of the candidates to hold televised debates, Iranians everywhere caught an unwelcome glimpse of the instability of Ahmadinejad's government.

During the debates, all sides criticized the rule of Ahmadinejad by explicity naming individuals thought to be behind corruption present in the governing body. With Iran witnessing, Ahmadinejad's friends and allies were all pointed out by the opposition candidates as corrupt. The speaker of the house was directly named in corruption accusations which seemed a log on the fire of the previously kindled controversy. The desire to appear a healthily democratic nation with fair elections was beginning to backfire in the face of Ahmadinejad as the time for polling approached.

As the sewn seeds of contempt for the government that mandated females to wear veils and claimed that not one homosexual resided in its country sprouted, inspirational rallies held by opposition candidates Mehdi Karroubi and Mohammad Mousavi further moved the people of Iran. Peaceful rallies full of messages of hope and revitalization allowed members of the Iranian community to respond in a positive way to the candidates. The opposition leaders seemed organized and effective at engaging the people, and to the rest of the world hope for the election to be fair and productive grew. Meanwhile, the royal and governmental officials supporting Ahmadinejad began to feel threatened. In the election of 2005, Karroubi received 4.5 million votes from his home town without rallies and inspirational demonstrations, however the release of the offical ballot counts for Karroubi's hometown in the 2009 election totaled less than half that amount giving him fifth place and raising eyebrows. -Either Karroubi throws a pretty bad party, or something was fishy.

A warning sign as to a not-quite-right election was also the fourteen thousand mobile polling vans that crossed through Iran on difficult-to-track polling routes. Many individuals questioned the efficiency of the vehicles and the reliability as to whether the ballots they collected could be verified. The mobile booths also armed themselves with far too many ballots and set off on an expedition of democracy, unobserved. Also questionable were the two events surrounding the headquarters of the election. First, on the night of the election, Mousavi's headquarters were ransacked by an unknown group of people. Second, no representatives other than current government officials were allowed to witness the calculation of the final results.

Thus far, the Guardian Counsel (supporters of the current government), has agreed to meet with all candidates from the election in order to address complaints of a rigged election. Five days of protest resulting in at least eight deaths continue while Swiss mediators were called in by Iran in order to deliver the message to the US: stop meddling in the election by claiming it unjust. The website YouTube has relaxed its regulations against violent footage in order to allow any footage chronicling Iran's protests to be posted as Twitter-ers everywhere continue to post the latest updates.

Examining the buildup to the elections and the subsequent occurrences in Tehran provides a thermometer of the current political turmoil. In the coming days, one can only assume the dissidents will be overpowered by a corrupt institution with private militarized backing but maybe the elections of 2009 really will be different than any seen before in Iran.